Refrigerating apparatus



Aug. 13, 1935. c. L., PAULUs `2,010,927

REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Filed March 26, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet l .Z6 25)/2 ,2q .21.2 z`3 5 l /5 @y l// j 4 Z @A JL 2 y \'/3 wu I Mr w 2: w

Aug. 13, 1935. c. l.. PAuLUs REFRIGERATING APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 26, 1934 his gg small food products.

Patented Aug. 13, 1935 UNITED STATES REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Charles L. Paulus, Dayton, Ohio, assignor to General Motors Corporation, Dayton, Ohio, a corporation of Delaware Application March26, 1934, Serial No.v 717,352

3 Claims.. (Cl. 211-153) This invention relates to refrigerating apparatus and particularly to refrigeratorcabinets of the household type.

`It has been the practice of manufacturers of 5 refrigerator cabinets -of the householdtype to l provide for the storage of tall bottled beverages or the like in such cabinets by spacing the lower food supporting shelf a considerable distance from the bottom ofthe food storage compartment 10vv so that the tall bottles could be placed under the lower shelf and supported upon the bottoin of the storage compartment in an upright position. Some manufacturers have omitted a portion of the lower shelf in order to provide a tall narrow 15' `unobstructed space adjacent the lower shelf for the reception of bottles; The maximum shelf food supporting surface, made available whentall bottled beverages or the like are not stored in the refrigerator cabinet, cannot be had by the zoshelf arrangements just described and heretofore provided in household refrigerators and therefore the user is deprived of a considerable amount `of shelf supporting area or surface for the lstorage within the food compartment of The present invention is therefore directed to the provision of an improved shelf arrangement fora refrigerator' cabinet of the household type; An object of the present invention is to proso vide a refrigerator cabinet with a food supporting shelf which can have its food supporting surface increased or decreased at will in accordance with the shape and 'size of various products or articles adapted to be placed in the food compartiiit. ment of the cabinet for storage.

Another object of the invention is to provide a refrigerator cabinet with a food storage shelf having complementary portions one of which portions is movable relative to the other for increas- @o' ing or decreasing the shelf food supporting surface within the cabinet,v when desired, and arranging theshelf so that the movable portion thereof may be readily removed from the food compartment of the cabinet and utilized as a servirle' i it. further object of invention is to provide a iced ,i'oporting'sheii a refrigerator cabinet 'iemental portions one ci' which can be in the same he plane and into a i'i' portion of the defined by the other comple-- mental portion will tc provide a relatively tall adjacent the shelf within the food storage compartment of the cabinet for the reception and storage of tall bottled beverages or the like.

.d stili further object oi the invention is to pro vide a serving tray within the refrigerator cabinet, which tray is removable from the cabinet and, when positioned within the cabinet, forms a complementary part of a food supporting surfaceof a shelf disposed in the food storage compartment 5 of the cabinet.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description, reference being had-to the accompanying drawings, wherein a preferred form of the 10 present invention is clearly shown. y

In the drawings:

f Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of alhousehold refrigerator cabinet having the present invention embodied therein; l5 u Fig. 2 is an enlarged horizontal sectional view of the refrigerator cabinet taken on line 2-2 of Fig..

1 showing a top plan view of the improved shelf arrangement of the present invention;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the refrigerator 20:- cabinet similar to Fig. 2 and shows a portion of the shelf arrangement removed from the refrigerator cabinet;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken on the line @-6 of Fig. 2 and showing 251-- in detail a portion of the improved shelf arrangement;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional View taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 2 and showing in detail a'portion of the shelf arrangement; and 30 Fig. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of the shelf arrangement taken on line 6-6 of Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawings, for the purpose of illustrating my invention, I have shown in Fig. 35' l thereof a refrigerator cabinet i of the household type. The cabinet it includes insulated walls forming a food storage compartment ii which is cooled by a cooling unit or evaporator l2 disposed therein and having connections'witli il many suitable type of refrigerant liquefying and condensing unit (not shown). The food storage compartment i l is divided into apluralityof verv tically disposed and horizontally extending storage chambers it by food supporting shelf meinm iii bers The food storage compartment ii and the chambers it provided thereinare closed by Ya door iii which affords access thereto. Any desired number of storage chambers it may be provided by the shelf members iii in accordance with the size of the compartment ii. it is preferable to employ as marry shelf `rren'lbers as possible within a compartment of a given size in order to materially increase tigre shelf food supporting area within the refrigerator cabinet.

However, in providing the maximum shelf food supporting surfaces within the cabinet I by positioning the shelf members relatively close to one another, some provision must be made to permit the storage of tall bottled beverages and thelike in the compartment I I when desired. My improved shelf arrangement, tobe hereinafter more fully described, permits the storage of tall bottled beverages within the compartment I I and permits of readily increasing the shelf supporting surface or of obtaining the maximum of such surface when bottled beverages are not stored in the cabinet.

Referring now. to Fig. 2 of the drawings, it will be noted that the lower of the shelf members I4 Within compartment II is of the type which includes two portions I 'I and |8 cooperating with one another and forming complementary parts of the shelf I4. The shelf` portion I I includes side members I9, a rear member 2| and a member 22 spaced from the rear member 2| to rigidly maintain the side members I9 at right angles to the rear member 2|. The metallic members I9, 2 I, and 22 are disposed in substantially the same horizontal plane (see Fig. 5) and are secured together in abutting relation in any suitable manner such as by welding. By referring to Fig. 6 it will be noted that the rear rod or member 2| extends into the space dened by the U-shaped sides I9 while the rod member 22 extends into this space only a short distance to permit an unobstructed passage for movement therein of .a part of a complemental portion of the shelf I4 to be hereinafter described. Sides I9 are of sheet metal members of a U-shape formation while the members 2| and 22 are solid rods. A plurality of U-shaped wire members 23 having legs welded or otherwise secured to the rear member 2| and to member 22 and are spaced apart to form the food supporting surface ofthe shelf portion Il. Portion I'I of shelf I4 is rigidly mounted in compartment II of cabinet II) by a-plurality of resilient supporting plugs 25, carried on studs 26 secured to the shelf portion I1, which plugs 25 t into depressions 21 formed in the food storage compartment lining 28. The plugs 25 may be threaded upon studs 2| or otherwise made adjustable relative to the shelf portion I'I in order to permit Withdrawal of the plugs 25 from the depressions 21 when the shelf is desired to be installed in or removed from the compartment II.

The portion I8 which forms a complemental part of the shelf I4 includes a rim or frame member 29 of U-shaped formation, the legs of which are adapted to be slidably received in the -U- shape tracks or side members I9 of the shelf portion I 'I for supporting the shelf portion I8 in compartment II. A plurality of wire members 3| of U-shaped formation have their legs welded or otherwise secured to the rim or frame 29 and are spaced apart to form the food supporting Surface of the complemental shelf portion I8. A rod 32 is welded in abutting relation to the legs of rim member 29 and to the U- shape wire members 3|. This rod 32 supports the wire members 3| and maintains the legs of rim member 29 at y right angles to the leg connecting portion therel Y of. It will be noted that the wire food supporting sufra-ces 3| are spaced apart along the rim member 29 in such a manner as to t between the wire food supporting surfaces 23 of the shelf portion I'I when the shelf portion I8 is moved into the area defined by the shelf portion Il.

The construction and arrangement of the parts of the complemental shelf portions Il and. I 8 are such that when these parts are assembled together to form the shelf I4 a'at unobstructed food supporting surface is provided by virtue of the complementary portions of the shelf being disposed in the same horizontal plane. The complemental portion I8 of the improved shelf struc# ture I4 may, when it is desired to place tall bottles or the like in the compartment II, be slid or moved, horizontally along the track or U- shaped side members I9, toward the rear of the compartment II, thus affording a relatively tall space adjacent shelf I4 at the front of the compartment I I for the reception and storage of bottles in an'upright position. This position of shelf portion I8 relative tov shelf portion Il is illustrated in Fig. 2 of drawings and it will be noted that the shelf portion I8 has been moved rearwardly of the door opening, for door I5, only a sufcient distance to permit reception of a single row of bottles. However, shelf portion I8 may be moved farther toward the rear of compartment II than is illustrated in Fig. 2 in order to permit a double row of bottles to be placed in front of shelf I4 if desired. In other words, the construction of the shelf I4 is such that the complemental portion I8 thereof can be moved 'U-shaped wire members 23 and 3| relative 'to one another is arranged so that the U-shaped members 3| may be moved in the same horizontal plane into the space between each of the members 23 when the shelf portion I8 is moved toward or into at least a portion o f the area defined by the shelf portion II. Therefore if there are not too many articles supported on shelf I4, prior to moving shelf portion I8, these articles may be pushed to the rear of shelf I4, to permit movement of thershelf portion I8, without removing the articlesv from the shelf or from the refrigerated compartment II. 'I'hus a space Within compartment II for the reception of tall bottles may be readily and quickly provided adjacent the front edge of shelf I4. In addition, the arrangement of the improved shelf permits the movable complemental portion I8 thereof to be detached from the portion I'I and removed from compartment II and cabinet III so as to provide a serving tray. The full line showing of shelf portion I8 in Fig. 3 of the drawings discloses this portion of the shelf removed from cabinet I0 in a horizontal direction and affords a readily accessible serving tray for removing food products or articles from the refrigerator and for conveying these articles to other points remote from the refrigerator cabinet. The use of the shelf portion I8 as a serving tray thus eliminates the necessity of permitting the refrigerator cabinet door to remain open over long periods of time during transferring of individual articles therefrom.

From the foregoing it is apparent that I have provided an improved shelf arrangement for a refrigerator cabinet of the household type wherein a. wide variety of food products and bottled beverages may be more economically stored. My improved shelf arrangement permits spaces ordinarily not used in a refrigerator cabinet,

'ile the form of embodiment of the inven- V tion as herein disclosed, constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted, all coming within the scope `of the claims whichl follow.

lWhat'is claimed is as follows:

l. A shelf for a refrigerator cabinet, said shelf including complemental portions adapted to form a food supporting surface of a predetermined area within said cabinet; means for supporting one of the complemental portions of the shelf against vertical movement relative to the other portion thereof and inthe same horizontal plane therewith, the one complemental'portion of said shelf supported by said means being movable horizontally relative to the'other portion of the shelf to vary the area of the food supporting surface, and said supporting means being so constructed and arranged as to permit detachment of the movable portion of the shelf from the other portion thereof by sliding same horizontally from said refrigerator cabinet whereby said movable shelf portion may be utilized as a serving tray.

2. A shelf for a refrigerator cabinet, said shelf including complemental portions adapted to form a flat food supporting surface of a predetermined area within said cabinet; means 'for supporting one of the complemental portions of the shelf against vertical movement relative to the other portion thereof and in the same horizontal plane therewith, the one complmental portion of said shelf supported by said means Abeing slidable horizontally into at least a part of the area defined by the other of said shelf portions to de crease the normal total area of the food supporting surface, and said supporting means being so constructed and arranged as to permit detachment of the movable portion of the shelf from the other portion thereof by sliding same horizontally from said refrigerator cabinet whereby said movable shelf portion may be util-ized as a serving tray.

3. A shelf for a refrigerator cabinet, said shelf including complemental portions adapted to form a food supporting surface of a predetermined area within the cabinet, means for securing one of the complemental portions of the shelf against vertical movement relative to the other portion thereof and in substantially the same horizontal plane therewith, and said securing means being so constructed and arranged as to permit detachment of said one' portion of the shelf from the other portion thereof by sliding same horizontally from theV refrigerator cabinet to thereby decrease the area of the shelf rood supporting surface.

. CHARLES L. PAULUS. 

